Contemporary Art Month & Launch SA Present 

An Exhibition Featuring 

Caroline Gonzales & Jesus Toro Martinez 

Opening Exhibition January 28, 2026 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

About the Artists 

Caroline Gonzales is an abstract artist born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. Her work reflects her experiences as a woman navigating obstacles, challenges, and moments of celebration. She approaches the blank canvas by drawing deeply from emotion, using color, form, and movement to shape each composition.

Gonzales earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Texas A&M–Kingsville in 2015 before returning to San Antonio, where she met her husband, artist Albert Gonzales. Sharing a commitment to creativity and community, the pair began collaborating on various art-related ventures while maintaining their individual practices.

In 2019, they consolidated their studios and Southtown Art Gallery into a single shared workspace. The same year Caroline gave birth to their first child—a life event that brought new direction and depth to her work. In February 2021, she transitioned into her art career full-time.

From 2023–2024, Gonzales completed an artist residency at Clamp Light Studios and Gallery, a period that expanded her conceptual development and studio approach. The birth of their second child in December 2024 once again shifted her artistic trajectory, prompting a renewed exploration of identity, balance, and transformation.

In January 2025, Gonzales and her husband moved into a new joint studio, where they continue to work alongside one another. They also co-run UpLift Gallery, a small exhibition space dedicated to uplifting emerging and local artists. Gonzales continues to live and work in San Antonio, steadily evolving her practice while balancing motherhood, community, and creative growth.  www.carolinegonzalesart.com 

Jesus Toro Martinez is a San Antonio–based visual artist whose work blends Latino cultural heritage with modern, organic materials such as tar, rose petals, and recycled plastics. Born in Laredo, Texas, he creates artwork that explores themes of love, memory, identity, and resilience. His pieces have been exhibited nationally and internationally, and he continues to develop new creative expressions rooted in community, tradition, and contemporary art practice. www.jesustoromartinez.com

ABOUT LAUNCH SA
Launch SA, a partnership between the City of San Antonio and Geekdom, is San Antonio’s resource center for small business owners and entrepreneurs. It is located in downtown San Antonio at the Central Library, 600 Soledad St. Launch SA provides free resources, mentorship, and programming to help aspiring and established entrepreneurs take the next step in their business journey. For more information, visit www.launchsa.org.

Exhibition run through December 31, 2026.

Contemporary Art Month (CAM) 2025 Perennial exhibition, The Inbetweenness, curated by Marisa Sage. In partnership with the UTSA Southwest Campus, the 2025 perennial will feature artists Huakai Chen, Brittany Ham, Gabi Magaly, Bella Martinez, Josie Norris and Jorge Villarreal, and will be on view in the Russell Hill Rogers Galleries in the Santikos building from March 22–April 12, 2025. The opening reception information will be announced in the coming weeks.

In her curatorial statement, Sage told CAM, “In an ever-evolving world where boundaries—be they linguistic, cultural, material, or conceptual—are increasingly fluid, artists working with translations and transformations within their practice embody a spirit of inquiry and alchemy. Translation is not merely the conversion of one language into another, but a process of negotiation, rupture, and reinvention. Likewise, transformation speaks to a metamorphosis: the reconfiguring of form, personhood, meaning, and perception.

The artists featured in this exhibition engage with these concepts as both method and metaphor. Through scale and process experiments they grapple with the movement of ideas across mediums, histories, and identities. Some address translation as a mode of cultural dialogue, exploring themes of displacement, migration, and hybridity. Others see transformation as a visceral act, turning materials—be they physical or conceptual—into sites of possibility and renewal.”

The CAM perennial exhibition was introduced in 2012 with the goal to connect San Antonio contemporary artists with curators around the world. For over a decade, this exhibition has served as an important bridge between San Antonio's artistic community and the global contemporary art scene. Through carefully curated exhibitions that highlight diverse perspectives and practices, the perennial has become a cornerstone of Contemporary Art Month's mission to elevate and celebrate San Antonio's contemporary art scene. CAM is thrilled to continue this tradition for the 2025 perennial exhibition.

Come by Velvet La Vamp Studios (formerly Creative Eye) in The Upstairs Studios at Blue Star Arts Complex (Studio 201) for Lament & Levitate: The Art of Ritual & Resilience by Velvet La Vamp. This exhibition will include new, revamped and past artwork by Karina Garanzuay (Velvet La Vamp).

First Thursday, March 6th | First Friday, March 7th | Third Thursday, March 20th | 7pm - 10pm

Email: velvetlavamp@gmail.com